Or "Cops and Robbers," "Spacemen and Aliens," "Prosecutor and Defendant" and many other variations.

A game where children play out a battle between two opposing forces, generally considered as a struggle between good and evil. A trope both in fiction about children, and in fiction about adults who sometimes interact with children.

Generally, there will be more competition for the "good guys" role, while less popular or socially adept children will get stuck with the "black hats." True friends will make sure to switch the roles around fairly, and watch out for that one kid who's always eager to play the villain--he'll probably be trouble later on.

Sometimes the children will learn AnAesop about the dangers of war or prejudice, or how cultural perceptions change over time, causing ValuesDissonance.

In stories starring adult characters, the children's pretend battles are generally used as commentary on or echoes of the main plot. For example, if the hero has been doing poorly, he might overhear a child complain about having to take his role in a game. Or hearing his excuses for wrongdoing coming from a child might prick a character's conscience.

A TabletopRolePlayingGame is essentially this kind of play, but with precise rules, statistics and a referee to make it function properly as a narrative scenario.

----!!Examples

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[[folder: Anime ]]

* ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' has an online shooter game somehow getting mixed up with a couple of children playing tag. The result? A dude commits suicide after being tagged by a little girl, [[spoiler:which looks to those who play the game as the BigBad. As a result, she ends up getting killed by another player]].* One of [[SociopathicHero Revy's]] PetTheDog moments in ''Manga/BlackLagoon'' involves playing CowboysAndIndians with a few Japanese children. She later subverts it by bringing a real gun to a second round. Oh, not in ''that'' way, but a few of those kids may get traumas later.* The plan of "Friend" in ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'' is directly based upon an elaborate game of "Good guys vs. League of Evil" Kenji and Otcho made up.* Manga/RurouniKenshin - in flashback, Kenshin plays the role of the "Dreaded Manslayer" with a bunch of kids (who of course have no idea that he ''is'' said manslayer).

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[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* In the early ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' issue where he battles the Matador, the Spanish villain has managed to create a public image as a GentlemanThief and made a fool of Matt. So the local kids play Matador and Daredevil, with the former as the preferred role. When ol' DD manages to turn the tables and not just defeat Matador but show him up for the JerkAss he actually is, the children discard their Matador costumes.* Similarly, at one point in "What's So Funny 'Bout Truth, Justice, and the American Way?" Franchise/{{Superman}} overhears a child saying he no longer wants to play as him because he can't kill while his opponents can.

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[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* ''FanFic/KyoshiRising'': Kyoshi's older brother and his friends enjoy playing rounds of "Earth Kingdom Soldier", breaking off into teams and having the heroic Earth Kingdom defeating the evil Fire King with the assistance of the Avatar (the biggest argument is not over who gets to be on the good team, but who gets to be the Avatar). Kyoshi is often "kidnapped" to be the DamselInDistress, at least until she gets more control over her Earthbending and gets everyone to accept her as the Avatar whenever they play.

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[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/TheTerminator'', Kyle Reese plays with one of the kids in this mode to show what a swell guy he is. Considering the dire straits the humans are in, you might wonder what they're playing - Humans and Terminators?** The sequel also has a scene of two children playing with what look like real guns.--->'''John Connor''': [[HumansAreBastards We aren't gonna make it, are we?]]\\'''T-800''': [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves It's in your nature to destroy yourselves]].*** Later played for irony, in that [[spoiler: Sarah expresses hope for humanity in the end due to John's actions, and the T-800 [[ICannotSelfTerminate performs a heroic sacrifice]].]]* In ''Film/WagonsEast'', some of the kids are playing a game involving taking the roles of various adults, and one character is dismayed when a kid complains about playing him.* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'' has a famous ThrowItIn scene where Dark Helmet plays with action figures of the cast. Of course, he beats the heroes and gets the girl, too.* ''Film/ReignOfFire'' has a scene in which Christian Bale and Gerard Butler entertain the children by acting out the LukeIAmYourFather scene from ''Franchise/StarWars''.-->"Of course we made it up."* In ''Film/HighNoon'', kids imitate the battle to be between the Marshal Will Kane and the bandit Frank Miller, with "Kane" getting shot dead. When the real Will Kane turns up, they quickly disperse.* ''Film/SkyHigh''. "Heroes" and "Villains" compete to save a mannequin civillain from spinning blades. Big surprise, the guys who consistently play "Villains" are actual villains.* A brief part of the "Once-A-Year Day" dance in ''Theatre/ThePajamaGame''.* In ''Film/HighAndLow'', Jun and Shinichi play "sheriff and outlaw", then switch roles and outfits, leading to a kidnapper grabbing the wrong child.

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the [[Creator/AstridLindgren Bill Bergson]] books the kids play a game they call "War of the Roses".* An early chapter of ''Literature/EndersGame'' features one of these, in which Ender's older brother demonstrates his sadism.* There's a story in the ''[[Literature/ArabianNights Thousand and One Nights]]'' wherein a sultan is having trouble deciding how to judge a (well publicized) case, and ends up wandering around town for a bit to clear his head. He happens across a group of children who are playing judge and defendant and the like, mimicking the case at hand. They actually have a smart way to solve the case (showing that one of the participants was lying), and the sultan takes the kid who was playing judge back to the palace to do the same thing in real court - although the kid was too smart to pronounce sentence, instead deferring back to the sultan at the end of the case.* The title character of O. Henry's ''The Ransom of Red Chief'' is a boy who is all too enthusiastic about playing the Indian part.* In ''The Return of the Great Brain'', the boys play a more formal game called Outlaw and Posse, in which the outlaw is given a head start and the posse has two hours to track him down. In this particular game, the posse ends up rescuing the outlaw from a ledge. The boys promise never to tell their parents, who would never let them play the game again.* In the Creator/EdMcBain ''Literature/EightySeventhPrecinct'' novel ''King's Ransom'', a rich man's son and his chauffeur's son play "sheriff and outlaw", then switch roles and outfits, resulting in a kidnapper grabbing the wrong child.* In Harry Turtledove's WorldWar series, a Lizard (invading alien) prisoner asks Corporal Sam Yeager what a group of children were doing. Yeager replies that they are probably playing "Cowboys and Indians", which of course means nothing to the alien. After a few abortive attempts to explain, Yeager simply says "think of it as Lizards and Americans."* In a series of Christian children's stories, a mother sees her young sons playing Cowboys and Indians and has them stop. Furthermore, she then tells the story of William Penn, the founder of the British colony and later American state of Pennsylvania, who made efforts to secure peace between the colonists and the neighboring Native American nations.* The battle of Rorke's Drift (in that case, Redcoats and Zulus) is recreated in ''Evil Eye'' by Creator/MichaelSlade. Thematically, the battle of good vs. evil resonates in many of the Special X novels.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* An incident on the third season of ''Series/TheWire'', where detective Bunk Moreland sees children dressing up as stick-up artist Omar Little and pretending to rob the Barksdale crew.** [[spoiler:Ironically, the kid pretending to be Omar goes on to ''kill'' Omar in the fifth season.]]* In early episodes of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', some of the Athosian children are shown playing, with one wearing a wraith mask, and the other saying he's playing as then-Major Shepherd.* One ''AlfredHitchcockPresents'' story follows a boy playing Cowboys and Indians and what happens when he borrows his father's gun for playing.

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[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* In an early ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strip, Linus and Charlie Brown play "Liberals and Conservatives".** Also straighter examples in the 50s strips, with jokes about InfiniteAmmo, the science fiction fad replacing cowboys and Indians with spacemen and monsters overnight, and so on.** Subverted in [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/11/06 this]] really early strip.* In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin and Hobbes play "Americans and Soviets" with dart guns and [[MutuallyAssuredDestruction both get shot]], subsequently deciding "War's a stupid game, anyway."** They also play more traditional Cowboys and Indians in the house, much to Calvin's mother's chagrin. A recurring trope is Calvin's attempts to cheat, zapping Hobbes with his cattle prod when Hobbes declares his gun's out of bullets. Hobbes also cheats from time to time, saying that Calvin missed since he's obviously still there talking to him.* There's a ''ComicStrip/{{Mafalda}}'' strip where all the kids are much too busy to play their usual game of CowboysAndIndians at the park, so they play Global Thermonuclear War instead--a much shorter game which consists of saying "boom" and dropping dead in unison. Punchline: "This modern life demands ever briefer forms of entertainment."* In one ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' strip, Olivia and Opus are playing Cowboys and Indians until told by the cockroach that it's politically incorrect. They go through a series of other villains ranging from [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingons]] to communists, each time being told that group is not a suitable villain. They ask the cockroach what he does for a living and he says he's with the media. [[HilarityEnsues Cue much cocking of dart guns and evil grins]].* In ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'', Jason and Marcus frequently cast Paige as the villain of their games. She never wants to play, but they don't take no for an answer. HilarityEnsues.

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[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

* One of the earliest "angle"(storyline) tropes, wherein professional wrestling became worked and wrestlers took on [[TheGimmick gimmicks]]. According to one history of the sport, this type of angle was common during the 1930s, often using two Americans, the well-tanned half of the feuding tandem being the "Indian," who would be asked to engage in a publicity stunt (e.g., pitching an Indian teepee in town and "refusing to leave" unless granted a match) to draw media attention and interest in the upcoming local event. Through the years, this would used sparingly, as both cowboys and Amerindians were usually portrayed as baby {{faces}}.

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[[folder: Theatre ]]

* Creator/BuffaloBill toured the world with a TheWildWest show that used cowboys and indians and a romanticized version of this era as it major selling point. He did more than anybody else to popularize and engrain the cowboy and Indians era in the public consciousness.

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':** When Mario first meets Gaz in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', he is pitting his Mario and Bowser toys against each other. Bowser wins. (Between this and a few later comments, one gets the impression that he doesn't think much of Mario as a hero.)*** ...then again, Gaz may have just been getting Mario out of the way so he could introduce Geno to the plot.** Part of Wario's {{backstory}}, according to old ''Nintendo Power'' comics, was that he played Cops and Robbers (Western variant) with Mario as a kid, but never got to play the Sheriff role.* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': PsychopathicManchild that he is, Majora considers the final boss battle a variant of this. He plays the "good guy" and Link plays the "bad guy." Since both he and Link are throwing around deadly weapons and magic with the fate of the world at stake, this fits the trope only in Majora's mind.** And as the page quote indicates, Majora expects Link to just run around and let Majora attack him. Instead, the [[EleventhHourSuperpower Fierce Deity's Mask]] gives Link the power to [[CurbStompBattle defeat the demon in a few hits]]. Link is not playing along.* An unusual variant occurs in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' when Vivi watches a couple of Lindblum kids playing a war between Lindblum and Alexandria. Rather than see one side as good and the other as evil, Vivi finds himself comparing his fellow black mages to the toys the kids are playing with, thinking that they're NotSoDifferent.* In ''VideoGame/TheSims 2'', sim children can plays "cops and robbers".

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[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* In ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'', Shelly mentioned that she often found herself playing this as a kid. [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/run-rabbit/ She took the suction cups off of her toy arrows.]]

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': After establishing himself as potent threat to their once all-powerful overlord, kids started to pick up a game where they dressed in robes and beat an unlucky kid with a Aku-ish haircut over the head with sticks.* ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'', "Patriot Act": After the second-stringers such as Vigilante, Shining Knight and Green Arrow manage to fend off the Shaggy Man, the kids of Metropolis want to play as them, the [[SevenSoldiers Seven Soldiers of Victory]].* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' kids, in one of their moments of actually acting like kids, played "Americans and Bosnians" in an episode made during the Kosovo conflict. On another occasion, they play as [[CowboyCop stereotypical police action-movie protagonists]], and get their investigation taken over by [[JurisdictionFriction kids playing FBI]]. Then they get involved in a real drug investigation. Then they go play laundromat, instead.** There's also "Fun Times With Weapons", where they play ninjas vs {{supervillain}}, then ninjas vs other ninjas.* In the [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] cartoon ''Robin Hood Makes Good'' (1939), three... um... well, let's just call them sciuridae for now, are preparing to play RobinHood. One gets the impression that the largest always gets to be Robin Hood, while the smallest is stuck as the Sheriff. Not much roleplay is involved; the "sheriff" doesn't even do anything before the two others mount their attack. The two "heroes" are caught by a predator, but the little one manages to rescue them. They start a new game, the bigger one beginning to assume the role of Robin again, when the small one says: "Whooooo's gonna be Robin Hoooood?" (The cartoon is by Creator/ChuckJones, who in later years might've considered it an OldShame along with the Sniffles the Mouse character.)* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Springfield Up", young Clancy Wiggum plays cops and robbers with Homer, before getting disturbed by Homer's reaction to being "shot" ("Oh, I can't take the pain! Please put one in my brain!")** Another episode had the kids playing Cowboys and Indians. Bart gives Lisa the [[NameThatUnfoldsLikeLotusBlossom "Indian" name]] of "Thinks-Too-Much".* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Davey", Finn is feeling burned out from all the attention he recieves from random strangers, and BMO tries to cheer him up by playing Cops and Robbers with him. The game mostly consists of BMO running around while wearing a mask and an oversized black-and-white striped shirt while yelling {{Malaproper}}-filled threats. While Finn does not do much besides sitting in a corner, the scene is so hilarious that it does cheer him up, on top of giving him the idea of disguising himself to avoid attracting attention.-->"Give me your bank account! Bang bang!"* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Over A Barrel" had this plot, with the Appleloosa settler ponies and buffalo(bison) respectively filling the roles of cowboys and Indians.

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[[folder: Other ]]

* Evoked in a cartoon of H. T. Webster's entitled "The Passing of a Idol", where the children all want to play gangsters instead of cops and are overheard by a passing policeman.* Legend has it this trope was once ingeniously invoked to discredit the Ku Klux Klan; a journalist who'd infiltrated them gave details of secret meetings, passwords, titles etc to the writers of [[Radio/TheAdventuresOfSuperman the Superman radio show]] to use in a Supes vs. the KKK storyline. Soon enough, there were kids running around neighbourhoods all over America dressed in pillowcases, being beaten up by their friend with the Superman pyjamas.